Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Magazine Ma | Page 34

Sanitation

The Shitty State of Human Sanitation
For Chekhovs Kalashnikov’s very first interview on Change Makers we will be talking with
environmental activist Chris Canaday from California about the broken and dangerous state
of human and water sanitation systems and the solution to this problem that is damaging our
environment and health.
“The modern flush toilet is largely based on the concept of “out
of sight, out of mind”. It is also a prime example of selfishness:
cleaning up the environment close to the user, while contaminating
everyone’s general environment”
It is interesting to note that at the same time that Water
Closets were being developed, Earth Closets were, too.
There was even one reportedly used in Buckingham
Palace for a while. Over time, Water Closets won out as
the standard for Modern Western Society, likely due to
their ease of use and maintenance, as long as piped water
comes to the house and sewage goes away.
Environmental activist Chris Canaday

I think that, before we talk about this revolutionary
sanitation system, it is important to touch on why
the current system is broken. Can you elaborate on
how the contemporary western toilet came into being
and the devastating effect that it has had on the
environment and our health?
People in Europe used to live in total filth in their cities,
throwing their excrement out the window. Porcelain flush
toilets had been worked on for some time, but only in
1861, after her husband had died of fecally transmitted
typhoid, Queen Victoria ordered flush toilets to be refined
and installed in much of Britain.
It is also reported that she was so obese that she had
trouble squatting and someone decided that it was not
dignified for the queen to squat. They gave her a new
porcelain throne and then, via mass psychology, all the
Western World has wanted the same thing as the queen
of England, even if it is not good for them or their
environment.
Th